Maybe it’s time to welcome our new insect overlords. In what sounds like the prequel to the movie Alien, Russian news Agency Novosti, reported on an experiment involving baby cockroaches conceived aboard a satellite in back in September. Apparently, they found, a trip to space gives roaches “superpowers”.
The cockroaches conceived in space onboard the Russian Foton-M bio satellite have developed faster and become hardier than 'terrestrial' ones, a research supervisor confirmed on Thursday.
The research team has been monitoring the cockroaches since they were born in October. The scientists established that their limbs and bodies grew faster.
"What is more, we have found out that the creatures... run faster than ordinary cockroaches, and are much more energetic and resilient," Dmitry Atyakshin said.
Cockroaches, as well as other types of insects, can give birth several times after one impregnation, and the cockroaches that conceived during the bio-satellite's September 14-26 flight have since given birth to their second and third batches of offspring.
"The second and third batches did not show these peculiarities of growth and physiology," the scientist noted.
That’s good news, since we wouldn’t want any of the mutants to somehow escape the lab and create a new population of hard to kill cockroaches. Average cockroaches are already known for their incredible resilience. Some can last almost an hour without oxygen, or even a month without food. They are also able to withstand high doses of radiation.
The September 14-26 flight was part of an ongoing experiment into the effects of space flight by the Institute of Biomedical Problems (IBMP). The ugly critters were sealed in special containers, and a video camera filmed their weightless mutant space sex during the flight. (Now don’t you wish you had access to that video tape?)
Whether these “super mutant” effects are somehow due to the weightless environment during conception, or to a healthy dose of radiation, or some other factor has not yet been disclosed. Nor did the report reveal whether any of these 33 new super-roaches are planning to take over the planet, or hunt us for sport.
译文:
太空小强变身无敌小强
也许该是时候欢迎我们新的昆虫领主了。据俄新社报道到，该实验涉及到在外太空的卫星里出生的幼年小强，并且它们即将于九月返回地球，这看上去简直就像电影《异型》的先行片一样。显而易见的是，科学家们发现一次太空之旅给小强们带来了“超级能量”。
一位研究管理人于周四确认到：在俄罗斯无人Foton-M航天器里“诞生”的小强比地球上的小强爬行速度更块，更加有韧性。
研究团队自10月份小强们诞生后一直对它们进行监测。科学家们得出结论说太空小强们的四肢与身体成长得更快。
"此外，我们还发现太空小强比普通小强爬行更块，并且更加的活跃更加的坚忍"Dmitry Atyakshin说道。
和其他的一些昆虫种类一样，小强可以一次受精多次受孕。那些在9月14日到26日于太空舱中繁殖出来的小强们已经孕育了它们第二第三代后代了。
科学家们指出，第二第三代的小强并没有显示出超级小强的一些特性。
这对我们来说是个好消息，因为我们可不希望那些变种小强溜出我们的实验室从而成为难以消灭的新物种。普通的小强已经显示出了令人难以置信的生存力。有些可以在没有氧气的情况下存活一个小时，更有在没有食物的情况下存活一个月。它们还可以抵御一些高强度的辐射。
9月14日到26日的飞行实验是俄联盟生物研究所为了研究太空飞行效果的一部分。小强们被装在一个特殊的容器里，有摄像机录像录制了那些失去重力的变种小强们交配的过程。（你现在是不是也想看一看那些录像带呢？）
这些“无敌小强”的诞生是因为繁衍过程中失去重力，或是适量的辐射，还是其他一些未知的原因，还不为人所知。那些“无敌小强”是否会征服地球，支配我们人类，也依然是一个未知数。